Twist of Fate
by TeamKeiForever
Summary: Kei was ready to die, he was ready to be free of his pain, until a kind little boy shows him he has something to live for. Kei-centric, though involves Young!Sho. Rated T.


**Author's Notes: **I was watching Moon Child the other day, which I haven't in awhile (YES FOUR DAY WEEKEND! XD) and after seeing the beginning for the 25th or something time, I realized, at least to me, there's kind of a lot of gaps in how Sho actually saved Kei, and how Kei would even let him considering he was angry, etc., etc, so I decided to fill it in myself! :D Turns out there were a lot of gaps to fill lol. I also have missed writing tremendously, as my other fic ideas are on standstill. I've been sucked into the Moon Child fandom thanks to reading senshi of ruin's amazing stories here, (PLEASE READ THEM, I beg of you!) so I'll be posting up a few stories relating to MC in the near future! Anyway, I don't think I have much else to say about this, so I hope you all like it, it did take awhile to sort out Kei's thoughts! ^^;

* * *

A pale, frail hand gripped the brick that encircled the opening the worn creature was slowly moving through. He even had to pause to lean against the rough surface, his chest rising along with his slow, barely audible breaths. It was as though his lungs had forgotten their purpose and were struggling to cope. They had been through this before, but now it was uncharacteristic as the body they were situated in was no longer ill or even human for that matter. The despaired being had gone without his main source of nourishment for three months now and his body was starting to shut down. Every muscle ached, every movement was a great effort, his mind slipped in and out of focus. He found it even tedious to keep himself upright, his body threatening to fall onto its knees. Once again, Kei was experiencing what it felt like to die. This time however, he welcomed it.

Somehow, the weakened vampire made his way toward the center of the spacious room, half of it exposed to the lightening sky. Dawn was not far off, Kei mused to himself with a small smile, finally collapsing against a ruined brick formation. When the sun was high enough it would seep right through the large hole in the ceiling, claiming most of the area, including the spot where Kei currently resided. He felt no fear knowing this information; only relief and maybe even a tinge of happiness. This was what he had wanted for so long…it was what he _should_ have done decades ago, with his lover at his side. It would have been easier that way, but Kei was too overwhelmed with his emotions to give himself up to the sun at that moment. Then again, Luka had wanted him to live, the way he had pushed the blonde away so harshly when Kei refused to move at first. He thought Kei would be better off without him… that he didn't need him. His tired mentor would never truly know how wrong he was.

He had left Kei to wander about the world alone, in agony, in grief, and even now, after all this time, the image of his love burning up before his eyes was like a knife to his barely beating heart. But it would not be for long, the exhausted beauty thought, as he fell back against the uncomfortable surface, his head dropping toward his chest, his heavy eyelids closing. Soon, he wouldn't feel anything at all.

Kei didn't know how long he was in his sleepy, unresponsive daze, but the scent of a human approaching his location woke up his still delicate senses. Whoever it was, it was small and had a quicker heartbeat than usual- it was a child. His mind loosely hung onto this detail, as the child came closer and soon enough was only a few yards away. It stopped suddenly, a few feet in front of the supposed sleeping man. Kei's train of thought was about to give into his previous heavy stupor until, with a bit of surprise, he sensed the child coming closer. It crept quietly, as though trying not to wake him, and reached out toward the vampire's watch, apparently wanting to take it to sell for money. That watch however, was a gift from long ago and anger flared up within Kei, his own hand darting out and grabbing the small wrist tightly. This action startled the young human, who started to pull his hand away. The agitated male opened his eyes, not releasing his hold on the child, who he now saw was a boy. When the black-haired youth had backed up enough, Kei let go of his wrist, glaring up at him. The boy however, looked neither anxious or scared; as a matter of fact, the wasted beauty saw a bit of curiosity, even pity, shining in those dark orbs. His line of vision traveled from the boy's eyes to his throat, remaining there. The animal inside Kei growled, urging him to take advantage of this easy meal, after denying himself longer than any vampire should. Despite his extreme blood lust, Kei did not even have the energy to feed at this point. He could only stare, mesmerized, at the boy's throat, only fleeting imagining what his blood would taste like.

This thought was soon forgotten, as the rays of sunlight beamed into the dark warehouse, directly coming in contact with the exposed skin of Kei's left arm. A startled cry escaped the silent creature as the white rays penetrated his arm, even frying some of the skin clean off in places. The discomfort was excruciating, his breath coming out in painful gasps, the boy only staring at his steaming skin in horror. Kei fought control over his breathing, the pain in his arm so great that he could barely feel it anymore. To his annoyance, the child made no motion to leave. Kei found with a bit of confusion that the boy did not looked frightened in the least bit; he looked concerned instead.

"What's wrong?" the child asked, the worry was evident in his voice.

"Go away," Kei managed to breathe out, vaguely wondering why the boy was still even here.

"Are you alright?" the youth continued on as though he hadn't heard Kei. He moved forward, offering his hand to the vampire, though it was hastily slapped aside.

"Leave me alone!" Kei snapped dangerously, his anger rising. What the hell was with this kid? Surely he knew men that burned in the sun were not human?

"But- you're burning-"

"What's it to you? Get out!"

"Let me help you-"

The blonde would have never guessed in a million years what was going to take place.

The concerned child, obviously not fazed at all by the vampire's temper, went forward and grabbed Kei around his chest, pulling him sideways out of the light. Due to both shock and his weakened condition, Kei let himself be dragged a few feet toward the middle of the room. The boy stumbled suddenly over a broken piece of concrete, and fell, taking Kei down with him. The golden head collided harshly onto the hard ground, a sound of pain escaping between full lips. The ache in his head however was nothing compared to the ache in his arm, which was having a difficult time healing itself. The boy picked himself up from the ground quickly, forgetting his own slight pain as he gave his attention to the still body next to him. Kneeling down next to Kei, the boy pushed him slightly so he would land on his back. The aggravated male shut his eyes at the bit of pain this movement caused him. When he sensed the boy looking down at him, he opened his tired eyes again, reassuring the worried youth he was still alive.

"I'm not strong enough to take you where I live by myself, but I'll look around and see if I can find something- stay here, okay?" the determined child announced, as though the immobile being had a choice. There was not an ounce of strength left in Kei's body.

Too overcome with pain and exhaustion, Kei was unable to fully absorb the situation, let alone react to it. He was even surprised that he could still speak.

"What's your name?" the weak male inquired, his voice barely above a whisper as his eyelids dropped.

"Sho. What's yours?"

"Kei."

With this last word, Kei's consciousness succumbed to his intense physical suffering, the world suddenly becoming dark and incomprehensible.

* * *

The next time Kei opened his eyes, he realized he was lying not on the ground, but on a cheap futon with a sheet over him. Confused, as he had not the slightest clue how he got here, he sat up despite his body's protests. Looking around, he discovered several things. He was still in the warehouse, but apparently in a different location. This particular area was made into a makeshift home, with a table and chairs set up not too far off, bags of clothes or other items scattered about, and there were couple other futons near the one he was sitting on. Those extra futons seemingly belonged to the two other boys a little ways away from him, one looking about Sho's age and the other a bit older, maybe in his teens. Not noticing Kei at all, they seemed to be arguing over how to open a sealed silver case that probably held money.

He sensed Sho behind him and turned around, seeing that the youth appeared to be looking for something amongst all those bags. He managed to get up from the futon, still drowsy and achy, and walk toward a still erect column a few feet away. Kei sat against the beam, bringing up one of his knees to support himself. He did feel a bit better, stronger, but many questions invaded his mind before he could focus on this. How did Sho manage to get him here? He said he wasn't strong enough to bring Kei alone, which was obvious as he was only a child. Kei surveyed his surroundings once more, seeing if he could find the answer to this question. Sure enough, not far from him, was a trolley. Sho must have pulled him onto it somehow. Although Kei had a small frame, his dead weight he believed would be too much for a child to handle. From the looks of things however, it wasn't. There was also a thick, tan-covered sheet on the transport, which Kei assumed had been placed over him. _'To protect me from the sunlight,_' he figured out after a moment. Which brought about a more important question.

Why had Sho saved him? Why hadn't he run away in fright like most other children would have done? Why did he even _care_ about Kei's well-being? It wasn't as though he knew him, and Kei recalled quite clearly that he had rejected the boy's help repeatedly. He could not understand it. On top of his bewilderment, Kei felt his wraith surface again. Sho had prevented him from dying, in turn also preventing him from receiving the eternal peace he had yearned for. He could have been dead by now, completely unfeeling and finally free of his depression. But no…that stupid kid had taken him away from that, and now Kei noticed he was stuck. What was he supposed to do now? At the moment, he didn't think he was strong enough to leave the warehouse, not without blood. Although he was surrounded by three human beings, not even in this state would he ever consider taking it from a child, never. His self-pity did not need an extra edge to it. And then, even if he was strong enough to flee, where would he go? What would he do? Would he try to seek out the sun again? This idea was tempting, but the pensive vampire suddenly realized he didn't want that anymore. Kei did not know what had altered his mindset, but death did not seem as comforting as it had earlier. _'I really am a coward,'_ he contemplated bitterly.

"Oh, there you are, Kei! You woke up…you were asleep for almost an hour. Do you feel better?"

Sho's light, cheery tone broke harshly through the creature's pitiful thoughts. Kei turned his head in the boy's direction, his expression blank. Sho had a smile on his face, which dimmed slightly due to the frown aimed at him. Nonetheless, his kept his demeanor positive as he approached Kei, holding out a glass of water. Hazel eyes looked at the clear liquid with disinterest, instead rising up toward the ceiling. Kei was not in the mood or condition to accept Sho's hospitality, so he decided to ignore him. Maybe then would Sho leave him alone.

To his dismay, the caring boy did not leave at all. On the contrary, he only moved closer and the numb male felt the cool rim of the glass against his lips, silently urging him to drink. Kei had half a mind to grab the glass and smash it into the ground, but decided to resist this urge and simply consumed some of the water. It did nothing for him, in fact, it even made him a bit ill, but it would get Sho to leave him be. Or at least he thought.

Content with the amount of water Kei had drank, Sho did leave for a few minutes before returning again, this time with a spoon and a bowl full of food. '_Persistent, isn't he?'_ Kei couldn't help but wonder as Sho held the spoon in front of his mouth. Naturally, the bored blonde continued to ignore him. After a moment, Sho finally retracted the utensil and sighed, seemingly in defeat.

"Guess you're not hungry," he noted quietly.

Kei almost smirked at this. He _was_ hungry, in fact, he was _starving_, but not for food. Of course, Sho wouldn't know this important detail…at least not yet.

The dazing creature suddenly became aware of another human apart from the three around him. He turned his head toward the intruder some yards away, who was near middle aged and wore a suit, wraith quite clear in his eyes. He was quietly sneaking toward the two boys, who apparently had finally found a way to open up the sealed case due to their cries of delight.

"Sho, look!" the older one exclaimed, waving his hands around that held several bills of cash.

"Fantastic," Sho responded, though not nearly with as much energy as the teen. He seemed to be more focused on the fact that Kei had refused to eat.

"Can we buy a house?" the much shorter one asked excitedly.

"Sure we can!"

"I wanna leave this place…"

"I want to see the snow!"

The invader was only a feet few away from them now and started clapping to get their attention. Kei remained where he was, hidden from view of the cruel man. Sho's eyes widened at the sight of him, but he too stayed where he was, most likely out of fear. Though Kei wasn't looking, he could sense the other youths had frozen as well.

"Good job," the suit-clad male said sarcastically. The sound of a slap echoed seconds later through the now quiet room. "Put it all back," the man demanded angrily.

"You want this too?" Kei heard the younger one pipe up and then there was a grunt of pain from the older man. The blonde sensed the young one running away, right out of the room.

"Sho run!" the teenager yelled out but not five seconds after he did so a gunshot sounded and a cry of pain escaped him, Kei picking up the scent of blood. The bullet had struck its target, but not anywhere fatal for Kei could detect his heartbeat. Sho finally snapped out of his scared trance and let the bowl and spoon fall to the ground as he rushed toward the teen, who Kei soon discovered was his brother.

"Ni-chan!"

"You, go get the other boy, or I kill this one," the heartless man threatened. "Now!"

Sho's footsteps soon followed those of the other child. Now it was only Kei, Sho's hurt brother and that horrid man. However, the man did not know of Kei's presence and this would only work to the vampire's advantage. If Kei wanted any chance of leaving from here, he would need to feed, and it seemed oddly lucky that the human behind him was not innocent at all. Just exactly what he needed. Kei was still quite weak, but the monster inside of him awoke abruptly at the opportunity to feed. The next thing Kei knew he was on the man, pinning him down, his fangs already unsheathed. A second later they plunged themselves deep into the struggling human's throat, blood flowing freely into the wanting mouth and Kei lost himself completely at the taste of it. He could only focus on the blood, barely even noticing the teen's scream of terror as he sucked the man dry, savoring every drop of the previous liquid. The world became a warm, soothing comfort as his body was finally able to heal itself, gaining in strength as his pain drifted away. The relieved creature paused in his feast, attempting to compose himself. The blood lust was still there, but it had decreased enough for Kei to think properly again. He would need to find another victim soon, but for now this would do. He lowered his mouth back over the large gash in the dead man's throat, as there was still some blood left within him. Kei was determined not to leave any of it behind if he could help it.

In the middle of his feeding though, he sensed another nearby. Recognizing the scent, he lifted his head to stare at Sho, who was watching him from about fifteen feet away. A mixture of surprise, repulsion, and confusion covered the boy's expression, indicating he had seen quite clearly what Kei had done. They gazed at each other for a moment before Sho walked tentatively toward the puzzled beauty, stopping only a couple feet in front of him. Yet again Sho had failed to flee when most others would. Kei noticed that instead, he always came nearer. The blonde had thought it might have had something to do with his naturally attractive aura, but the other boys had hardly noticed him. Why was it only Sho that was apparently drawn to him? And _why_? Even adult humans would be frightened by such a display in front of them. But here was a kid, maybe only around ten years of age, who was fearless in facing Kei when he had seen him sucking the blood out of another human being. The stumped vampire couldn't figure it out.

"Aren't you afraid?" he questioned, his eyebrows knitting together.

Sho only shook his head in response. This should have confused Kei even more, but he actually felt a bit relaxed at this. His self esteem always suffered when his victims gave him that look of fear, of terror, knowing that they would die soon and that he was to be their murderer. Even though he was used to it, it was what he hated the most about feeding. Nonetheless, to have the benevolent child in front of him, unflinching, not afraid of him in the slightest sparked something within Kei. Sho did not know of his many burdens, nor did he fully understand Kei's actions, but he hadn't let it scare him. He had accepted it in a way, as though he knew that Kei had not killed the man on purpose. It was an odd assumption, but the pondering blonde did not know how else to explain the boy's actions. There was definitely some type of aura around the child that Kei had never felt around anyone else. It was almost akin to the feeling of finding something one had been looking for after so long.

A soft laugh of relief escaped from reddened lips at this final realization. Sho at first seemed puzzled as to why Kei was suddenly smiling, but shortly joined him with his own bright, radiant grin. It dazzled the content beauty, enough to keep a light expression on his face.

"Thank you," Sho spoke finally and Kei blinked at him.

"For what?" _He's just full of surprises isn't he? _

"For…saving me, Toshi and my brother. If you hadn't…"

Sho looked down at the vampire's finished meal, trying to decide on a word to describe the scene.

"…killed him…he would have killed us," he finished quietly, once again leaving the vampire in astonishment.

Is _that_ what this was all about? It amazed Kei how differently Sho had viewed the situation. He hadn't seen him as a monster feeding on human blood; he had seen him as a hero, getting rid of the bad guy to spare their lives. Now that Kei thought about it, if he _hadn't_ been here, the bastard probably would have killed them in cold blood. He had supposedly saved Sho and his family when he really only attacked the man to sate his hunger. Then again, Kei knew deep down he would have never let such a heartless act occur in his presence.

"I guess we're even now, aren't we?" he decided to respond with, this time causing Sho to blink at him in bemusement.

"What do you mean?"

"You saved my life too," Kei reminded, a bit of a smile on his face.

The puzzled boy thought over this for a second before realization crossed his features.

"Oh yeah! It was…I dunno. It just seemed like the right thing to do," Sho attempted to explain, shrugging. "I mean…I couldn't just leave you there when you were hurt…"

This touched a sensitive nerve within the solemn being, but Kei decided to ignore it for the moment.

"By the way…what…what are you?" Sho asked tentatively.

"A vampire," Kei clarified, saying the word with more venom than he meant to. Sho, however, seemed unfazed.

"I thought so…it's just…Shinji told me vampires and werewolves and those types of creatures don't really exist. But you do…does that mean the others exist too?"

"I don't know. I guess you'll have to find out," the slightly amused being said as he stood up, reveling in the fact that he could do so without any issues.

"Kei…wait…can you stay?" Sho asked suddenly, moving forward to take hold of his savior's wrist, though the creature of the night had no intention of leaving.

"Why?" Kei questioned anyway, out of curiosity.

"Because…because I want you to. Please? I don't care that you're a vampire…"

"Shouldn't you? I could bite you at any time."

"But you won't."

"How do you know?"

"Because if you wanted to bite me, you would have done it when I was trying to feed you," the surprisingly savvy child pointed out, causing blonde eyebrows to rise. Kei was taken aback at Sho's perception, but he had to admit he was rather pleased about it as well.

"So will you stay?" Sho asked again as he looked up into the pale face.

Already having made his decision, Kei knelt in front of Sho, looking directly into those mocha eyes he was already becoming rather fond of.

"Yes, I will stay," he answered honestly, happiness sparkling within the dark jewels at his words. "And I will never leave you."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

That grin broke out again on Sho's face but Kei had only a moment to register it before thin arms threw themselves around his neck in a sudden embrace. Kei remained still, stunned. He was almost frightened, having someone this close after so long. He had thought to push Sho away, but instead found himself wrapping his arms around the smaller body in return, maybe a little tighter than he intended. Kei didn't know whether his future with Sho would make his life better or worse, but protecting the energetic child had now become his priority. He swore he would never let anything malicious happen to Sho, for the young boy did not only save Kei's life; Sho had saved Kei from himself.


End file.
